The Veteran's cause of death was listed as atherosclerotic heart disease. The VA clinician concluded that the atherosclerotic heart disease is not related to service or his service-connected disability, and thus denied the claim for service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death.
The deciding factor: The VA clinician opined that it is less likely than not that the Veteran's atherosclerotic heart disease was related to the in-service finding of a heart murmur or elevated white blood cell count, and also noted that the service-connected appendectomy residuals did not cause or contribute to his death.
- Claimed conditions
- atherosclerotic heart disease
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 20, 2014
- Citation
- 1446417
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 1446417.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Granted
The Board has granted DIC benefits based on service connection for the cause of the Veteran's death, finding that his service-connected prostate cancer and its treatment caused his death due to side effects from Zytiga.
- Denied
The Veteran's death due to cardiac arrest and atherosclerotic heart disease was not related or attributable to his military service, thus denying the claim for service connection for cause of death.
- Denied
The Veteran's service connection claims for hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and atherosclerotic heart disease are denied. The Board has remanded the issues of service connection for hypertension and atherosclerotic heart disease due to insufficient medical opinions.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeals for increased ratings for intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma and gallbladder, service connection for atherosclerotic heart disease, and service connection for fatigue have been dismissed due to the Veteran's withdrawal of his appeal.
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